Barikada
- World Of Music - Svastara - 2008 |
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ROMAN POKORNY
P o r t r a i t
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Roman Pokorny
P o r t r a i t |
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Roman Pokorny is jazz / blues / fusion
guitarist & composer from Prague,
Czech Republic.
Roman Pokorny was born on April 2nd, 1966 in Moravsky Krumlov. He spent his
childhood in small village Horni Dunajovice. He was very interested in music
since the age of 3, and by 6 he was already playing in the family band during
various events. At first, he took drums and base guitar lessons. Later he
chose guitar as his main instrument. In his student years he played in various
bands.
Later he fell into jazz and following his ideals, guitarists Jim Hall, Ed Bickert,
Kenny Burrel, Wes Montgomery, Johny Smith or Grant Green. He studied harmony
and all theories related to good quality jazz music.
Roman started his professional
career in 1991 in Brno, where he performed in the famous Gustav Brom Big Band
combos of soloists. He was fortunate to play under bandmasters Jaromir Hnilicka,
Gunter Koci, Josef Audes or Mojmir Bartek. Here, Roman obtained his first professional
experiences. He was also part of the Ornis of Jazz expert Jan Beranek. In 1993
Roman became part of Ostrava band of Boris Urbanek - TUTU. The same year he
was nominated by the Czech Jazz society The New Musician of the Year. In 1994
Roman
intensively absorbed in his own music established Roman Pokorny Quartet. He
also founded Trio of chamber jazz with Jarda Hnilicka. Again he was nominated
by the Czech Jazz Society The New Musician of the Year and his band was nominated
The Band of the Year.
In 1995 he published his CD "Magic Holidays" and CD "Sun
Dance" (the later with TUTU band). He was involved on both CDs as a composer
as well. Roman worked with Michal Pavlicek on Roman Dragouns' CD - "Stin
my krve" (Shadow of My Blood). He was awarded The Best Solo Interpret of the
Trencin Jazz Festival. Nominated again by the Czech Jazz Society The New Musician
of the Year and Band of the Year. In 1997 Roman established Roman Pokorny Trio
(guitar, drums and bass). He also started long term cooperation with singer
Yvonne Sanchez. Nominated by the Czech Jazz Society The New Musician of the
Year and Band of the Year. In 1996 worked with Emil Viklicky and Boris Urbanek
on the CD "UV Drive". Nominated by the Czech Jazz Society The New Musician
of the Year and Band of the Year.
In 1998 Roman put out a CD "Jazz Perception".
It involved septet - Roman Pokorny Trio and Gabo Jonas (organ), Juraj
Bartos (trumpet), Stepan Markovic (sax) and Svata Kosvanec (trombone). Finally,
his band was awarded The Best Band of the Year and he, himself, was nominated
The Musician of the Year. The same year Roman together with Vincent Kumr and
Lada Kerndl published CD "Tribute to Duke Ellington". In the Czech Jazz Society
and magazine Harmonie inquiry Roman was awarded The Best Jazz Guitar Player
of the Year
1998. The same year he started producing albums also of other singers and bands.
In 1999 Roman performed on jazz festivals in Beirut and Berlin
and he had successful USA tour. He put out CD "Blue Point". His CD "Jazz Perception"
was awarded by the
Czech Jazz Society The Best Jazz CD of the Year. Editor's office of the
magazine Stereo a Video awarded The Best Album of the Year Romans' work
"Acoustic Grooves", which was made for Studio Fontana. In 2000 Roman established
Jazz Formation Analogic. He was inspired by the hard rock, blues, soul and
funky of 60's and 70's. Using his own expressive means, Roman made
original fusion of the above mentioned music styles and jazz. He performed
at the Jazz festival in Riga, arranged authors' vocal album for Lada
Kerndl. Often, Roman performed with excellent singer Tonya Graves and played
concerts and worked on a CD with his formation Roman Pokorny & Blues Box
Heroes.
During 2001 Roman played with his Jazz Trio, Blues Box Heroes,
with band of Yvonne Sanchez and with Tonny Blues Band with Juwana Jenkins.
He published
CD "I Suddenly Realised" with Lada Kerndl. On this album Roman composed 10
pieces and 3 standards were arranged to fit the form of the album. It was the
first
lyric authors' jazz album in the Czech Republic. The year 2002 was significant
for cooperation with Italian Hammondist Alberto Mersico. Roman published CD
with Bady Zboril (drums) and Alberto Marsico, in production of Arta Records.
The simple name of this CD "'03" was mainly Romans' work as
an author. Blues Box Heroes presented their debut album in 2003 with old well-proven
blues
standards as well as Roman authors' compositions. After 2 years, Roman
put out his multimedia double-CD "2 Faces". On one CD we find live performance
of the Trio from Jazz club U Stare Pani and on the other long awaited album
of the Blues Box Heroes on which are lyrics from British singer Jamie Marshall
and as one of the performers Yvonne Sanchez. On the CD is also a short film
in the format MPEG2 and PC game for fans of the Roman Pokorny Trio - "ROBOX"
- simulation
of this band. Both additional bonuses are made for PC.
2005 was a breaking
year for Blues Box Heroes and Roman as an author using more and more of his
own composed music, in which are new Jazz and Hard Rock elements, still respecting
blues essence. Jazz Trio grew into Quartet which have guitar, trumpet, bass
and drums. On the Quartet concerts Roman currently presents both his older
and more recent pieces from the album "2 Faces". The CD "2 Faces" became within
very short time the bestseller among Romans' albums.
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